Newsletters
Risk Central
Digital Edition188 Power Brokers and the Solutions that Made Them Stand Above the Rest
It would be easy to read the headlines of the past year and conclude that the world is in a dire situation.
A jarring attack on the U.S. Capitol by thousands of right-wing imbeciles. A global pandemic. And the ongoing march of climate change.
Yet spend a few minutes — yes, just a few minutes — reading the profiles of the 2021 Power Brokers®, and you will feel a whole lot better. On the one hand, we see an insurance broker with a specialty in nonprofits working with the underwriters of symphonies and theater companies to demonstrate their reduced exposures, thus topping some of the cultural institutions’ bottom line bleeding. On the other, we see brokers proactively educating their stressed insureds about changes in the marketplace.
Whether it be good news or bad news, they step up quickly, with candor, and give the risk managers the information they need to do the best thing for their companies.
With so much chaos and so much uncertainty, look in these pages and see what caring professionals do to protect people, revenue and property. The three traits of what makes a Power Broker will become abundantly clear.
First and chiefly, they must have a creative, entrepreneurial spirit to find solutions for their clients. We see it all the time; we read about it every year in these applications and nominations. An insured faces a very difficult renewal, their company suffered losses and broker after broker cannot find a solution for them. They can’t negotiate a compromise; the insurance markets turn their backs on them. Then they find the person who really gets it done. This is a Power Broker, the insurance professional whom you can turn to when no one else will give you the time of day.
A second trait of a Power Broker is that they pride themselves on their industry knowledge. And that means not merely their knowledge of insurance products and their carrier relationships, but also their knowledge of the industry of the insured. We read and see just how these Power Brokers understand the business of the insured as well as anyone in that business. They immerse themselves in seminars, webinars and the pages of business publications to better understand the landscape their client is trying to navigate.
I’ve read the following, paraphrased, dozens of times in Power Broker applications: “I feel like they are part of our risk management department. They know my business better than I do,” and so on and so on.
The third trait, and by no means the least. Delivering customer service like they really mean it. That means passing up a sale if the broker determines it’s not the right thing for the client. That also means even if they know a lot, being honest when they don’t know the answer and connecting their client to the resources within their company to make a difference for them.
“I pride myself on client service, so much so that at the outset of my career. I set a personal goal of a 24-hour turnaround time on all client inquiries,” said Amy Klitzke, a 2021 Power Broker winner in Agriculture.
“While I cannot always guarantee a comprehensive response depending on the complexity of the inquiry, I always aim to acknowledge my clients within this timeframe and seek feedback on when a response is needed,” she added.
She said it best. You can read her full profile here, and there are many, many more excellent examples to choose from, and we should be very thankful for that. &
The complete list of 2021 Power Broker® winners can be found here.
